Airbnb

I was given the great opportunity to work closely with one of the biggest name in the tourism industry in helping them create a product that can reshape the way we travel. Airbnb is a company that currently connects travelers to short term renters in locations all across the world. They have also begun connecting its users to restaurants and activities in select cities and this is what my team dived in to. To give travelers the Airbnb experience beyond the rooms.

Initial Research

There are many struggles Airbnb users have when they travel, finding the right issue and figuring out how to start was our first challenge. A quick set of user interviews quickly determined that one of the key challenges users face is that they sometimes do not know how to find the right attractions or do the right activities in a place without falling into tourist traps. This problem is especially difficult when users have little time to plan or research in advance.

User Journey

The best way to bring our design to life is by putting ourselves in the user’s shoes. Hence, we created a persona that we centered on our user journey on when designing our product.

Our persona Jess is your average college graduate traveling around the world before she begins her career. She has a 12 hour lay over in Milan, Italy on her way home which she decides to spend it visiting the city on the very last minute.

She has never been to Europe and has no experience or knowledge about European culture, but she is very curious and wants to experience the true authentic local experience of the beautiful city of Milan. How can we help Jess experience the true beauty of Milan and explore its hidden gems in just 12 hours?

Final Product

Our final solution was a platform that helps Airbnb search, browse and reserve restaurants, attractions and events near their current location. Just like Airbnb’s core room reservation services, this new product features listings by local businesses to give users a true authentic experience of that city. While I cannot share our final high fidelity designs, here are some low fidelity wireframes for our proposed product.